MiniDV Camcorder.
a2jfreak
Houston, TX Member
I'm looking to purchase a MiniDV camcorder.
I want:
1) image stabilization
2) Night/low-light capability
3) 18x optical zoom, or better
4) USB and/or IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
5) Under $500, preferably under $400
Any suggestions?
I don't want someone to go to newegg and find the camera or some other electronics site (I can and have done that). I want someone that actually owns or has used (not just used in a store) a camcorder to recommend one.
I want:
1) image stabilization
2) Night/low-light capability
3) 18x optical zoom, or better
4) USB and/or IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
5) Under $500, preferably under $400
Any suggestions?
I don't want someone to go to newegg and find the camera or some other electronics site (I can and have done that). I want someone that actually owns or has used (not just used in a store) a camcorder to recommend one.
0
Comments
http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_Handycam_DCR_HC30/4505-6500_7-30671365-2.html?tag=tab
It seems the price went down a bit, of course, it's right around your price range. I love this little camera... I could upload some video for you to view that should show you the quality, it will be short, but it should show you the quality well enough.
I should also note this is my first ever owned DV Cam, so I have nothing to really compair it to. But I have used professional equipment from school and I really think this camera does equally well. I think the DV Cam from school was a JVC DV500.... of course it had a bunch more goodies.
Of course, it only has a 10x Zoom, but it has the stabilization, USB and iLink(firewire), two kinds of Nightvision, and of course is uber light and TINY. It's small enough to fit in your pocket, if you have loose jeans like me
THE BAD.... it wouldn't be right to say what I don't like about it too much.
I pretty much have to run this thing on AUTO everything, auto focus, auto white balance, auto everything. It does them all well, but I like to have ful control myself, if your driving on a bridge with those cement blocks and you are trying to look over them to the ocean trying to have shots of the islands and stuff from the Keys in Florida for example, it tends to focus on whatever is nearest...
It uses a touch screen and of course a menu system in that touch screen. It's fast, but not fast enough. Your pretty much at the beck and call of the auto everything. But as I mentioned it isn't bad at all, other than extremme differences in distance(IE the example above) it focus's just fine. Takes some getting used to, but you can learn to get around it.
It's a Sony DCR-HC21. Has everything I need. Not the most feature-rich camera, but definitely should suffice for my needs.
Got it for $350 @ BestBuy -- Cheapest price I found in town. Checked Circuit City, Sears, WalMart and Fry's.
WalMart wanted $400. CircuitCity only had it as "open box" for $360. Sears wanted $375 and Fry's wanted $380. Lowest price online I saw it for was just a shade under $350. I figured for a few bucks I'd rather have a physical store I could take it to should something go wrong. Got a stand for it and some DVC tapes. All total (since I signed up for Best Buy's "save $5 for every $150 of purchases" thing (cost $10 to sign up)) I paid just over $440.
One remaining question I have: Should I go for Best Buy's extended warranty? $100 for 4 years. Sears wanted $120 for 3 years. Fry's wanted $100 for 2 and $225 for 5. I don't know what Circuit City wanted. I hate to spend $100 needlessly, but $100 also seems like cheap insurance for a $350 item considering it lasts for 4 years.
I did shoot a few minutes worth of video. I'm pleased. Doesn't do anywhere near as well in low light situations as the guy at Best Buy claimed, but considering 99% of my video will be in decent-to-excellent lighting I'm not overly concerned. On the rare ocassion I need ultra-low-light recording I'll have to improvise with a flash-light or something else.